Can low magnesium cause dizziness?

Rarely and indirectly, and the difference between severe deficiency and the mild low status most readers mean

Can low magnesium cause dizziness has an honest answer of rarely and indirectly, and the difference between the two versions of low magnesium is the whole of it. Severe hypomagnesaemia, the clinically low serum magnesium that alcohol misuse, proton-pump inhibitors, diuretics, gut disease and uncontrolled diabetes produce, presents with cramps, tremor and weakness and, when severe, with cardiac arrhythmias, and an arrhythmia or the low blood pressure that can accompany a severe electrolyte disturbance can produce dizziness, lightheadedness or faintness, so in that picture low magnesium can cause dizziness, indirectly, through the heart and the circulation, alongside low potassium and low calcium that often travel with it, a medical emergency found on blood tests and treated in hospital. Mild low status, the version most readers of this section mean, a diet that runs light for months producing a marginal tissue status, is associated in the observational literature with fatigue, cramps and poorer sleep and stress tolerance, and dizziness is not among its features, a lifter with a marginal magnesium status and dizziness having, almost always, a different cause for the dizziness and a diet audit for the magnesium, the two questions being separate.

The differential, on which magnesium sits far down, and the route for dizziness that persists

The differential for a lifter's dizziness is the useful part of the page, because the common causes are common and magnesium is not among them. Standing up too fast, orthostatic hypotension, the head rush after a heavy set of squats or on rising from the floor after deadlifts, blood pooling in the legs and pressure dropping for a moment, the commonest cause in a gym and fixed by standing slowly, breathing between reps and not holding the breath through the set. Dehydration, a long hot session or a cut with low fluid, lowering blood volume and pressure. Low blood sugar, training fasted or deep into a deficit, the shaky, sweaty, lightheaded picture that a carbohydrate fixes in minutes. Anaemia, iron deficiency above all, common in women with heavy periods and in endurance athletes, producing dizziness on exertion with fatigue and breathlessness, and found on a blood count. Inner-ear disorders, benign positional vertigo giving a spinning dizziness on turning the head or rolling in bed, labyrinthitis after a cold, both an ear question rather than a mineral one. Medicines, blood pressure tablets, some antidepressants and antihistamines. And anxiety with hyperventilation, over-breathing under stress lowering carbon dioxide and producing lightheadedness and tingling, a common and underdiagnosed cause. The route for dizziness that persists, recurs, arrives with chest symptoms, palpitations, fainting, headache, vision change or weakness, or follows a head injury, is a GP, whose examination and blood tests, a blood count, glucose, electrolytes including magnesium, thyroid, cover the differential in one visit, magnesium among the tests rather than the reason for the visit. The question filed: low magnesium causes dizziness rarely and indirectly through the arrhythmias of severe deficiency, not through mild low status, the common causes of a lifter's dizziness sit far above it, and persistent dizziness is a GP's question, with the worked example taken for the diet audit and never for the dizziness, 300mg elemental at 22p, £19.99 for 90 days.

The verdict, far down the list and found by a blood test

Can low magnesium cause dizziness: rarely and indirectly, severe hypomagnesaemia producing dizziness through the arrhythmias and low blood pressure of a serious electrolyte disturbance, while mild low status from a light diet produces fatigue and cramps by association and not dizziness, the common causes of a lifter's dizziness being standing up too fast, dehydration, low blood sugar, anaemia, inner-ear disorders, medicines and anxiety with hyperventilation, and persistent or worrying dizziness being a GP's question whose blood tests include magnesium among much else. For the diet audit and not the dizziness: Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate, bisglycinate, 300mg elemental at 80% NRV, £19.99 for 90 days at 22p a day.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

Is dizziness a symptom of magnesium deficiency?

Only of severe deficiency, indirectly, through the arrhythmias and low blood pressure of a serious electrolyte disturbance; mild low magnesium status from a light diet is associated with fatigue and cramps, not dizziness.

Why do I get dizzy after squats or deadlifts?

Usually orthostatic hypotension: blood pools in the legs and pressure drops for a moment on standing or after a heavy set, especially with breath-holding, fixed by standing slowly and breathing between reps, with dehydration and low blood sugar the next suspects.

What are the common causes of dizziness in lifters?

Standing up too fast, dehydration, low blood sugar, anaemia especially in women and endurance athletes, inner-ear disorders, blood pressure and other medicines, and anxiety with hyperventilation, with magnesium far down the list.

Should I take magnesium for dizziness?

No: dizziness is not a magnesium question unless severe deficiency is found on a blood test, and magnesium is taken by diet audit for its own claims; persistent dizziness goes to a GP.

When is dizziness an emergency?

With chest pain, palpitations, fainting, severe headache, vision change, weakness, difficulty speaking or after a head injury, which are urgent, and when it persists or recurs, which is a GP visit with an examination and blood tests.

Sources

1. The primary-care dizziness literature: dizziness and lightheadedness are most often orthostatic hypotension, dehydration, low blood sugar, anaemia, inner-ear disorders, medicines or anxiety with hyperventilation, with electrolyte disturbance a rarer cause found on blood tests. PubMed record
2. The hypomagnesaemia literature: clinically low serum magnesium presents with cramps, tremor, weakness and, when severe, arrhythmias and seizures, with alcohol misuse, proton-pump inhibitors, diuretics and gastrointestinal loss the common causes, and serum magnesium an imperfect marker of tissue status. PubMed record
3. The hypermagnesaemia literature: the kidneys excrete surplus magnesium, so supplementation is safe for healthy adults within guidance and warrants medical advice in chronic kidney disease, where impaired excretion allows magnesium to accumulate. PubMed record
4. Department of Health. Dietary Reference Values for Food Energy and Nutrients for the United Kingdom. Report on Health and Social Subjects 41, 1991 (magnesium RNI 300mg men, 270mg women).

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